help choosing an interconnect between my imac and denon av receiver

[dheepanprakash]

I wanted to connect my imac to my receiver via an optical cable...Is optical cable any better than rca?

i m looking into http://www.chord.co.uk/product/chord-optichord-minijack-to-toslink-digital-optical-interconnect/

http://www.whathifi.com/review/chord-company-ichord (not optical)

any suggestions??

 

[John Duncan]

It is likely that an optical cable from an iMac to a receiver will be better, yes, because you remove the possibility of electrical interference and hum. Because of their nature it is also possible to use quite cheap optical cables because they can not be susceptible to the electrical interference which more expensive analogue cables are designed to prevent, so spending more than about £10 on an optical cable won't (IMO) give you an audible benefit.

 

[abacus]

RCA cables carry analogue sound therefore the conversion from digital to analogue will be done by the iMac.

Optical cables carry digital information therefore the conversion from digital to analogue will be done by the receiver.

Digital either works or in doesn’t so any decent optical cable will do, (Being digital they cannot alter the sound in any way) plus as it uses light to transfer the digital information it is immune to interference.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[dheepanprakash]

so which one shud i choose nw qed or chord company or any other options??

 

[abacus]

Buy one of each and see which gives you the better sound. (The DAC in the receiver should theoretically do a better job than the one in the iMac)

RCA http://www.thatcable.com/product/2-to-2-RCA-Male-Phono-Interconnect-Cable-Lead

Optical http://www.thatcable.com/product/TOSlink-male-to-TOSlink-Male-Cable

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[relocated]

You don't need to buy a particular brand of optical cable, certainly not anything that has 'Audiophile' pretentions.

As JD has already said, you need spend no more than £10 and a certain river-named store or auction site will give you a multitude of choice. I have always found Belkin cables to be extremely well made, widely available and low cost.

 

[Crossie]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Optical-Toslink-Audio-SKY-Digital-Cable-LEad-1M-1-5M-2M-3M-5M-10M-15M-20M-/251549933428?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item3a918b5f74

Is as good as any other optical cable and cheap.